When a small child crosses a street or get off a school bus, visibility of the child is a problem and accidents result when the child is unnoticed by the bus or other traffic. Solving the problem of child safety in traffic has conventionally been approached by improving the bus driver's ability to see or detect children. This approach offers certain technical difficulties and does not protect children from the perils of other traffic. Providing children with adequate means to significantly improve their visibility has not been attempted beyond suggesting that children wear bright or reflective clothing. Of course, children are reticent to wear clothing which does not suit the latest fad or fashion, and for smaller children bright clothing is simply not enough to make them visible when their height and size simply do not allow them to be easily seen from a vehicle.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,800,834, 4,944,656 and 5,005,512 disclose extensible flag poles or holders which have means for winding or rolling up the flag for retraction. U.S. Pat. No. 4,565,152 discloses a safety flag in which a flared base tube receives a thin rod carrying a flag, the flag being crumpled as the rod is retracted into the tube. In the known prior art, the signal flag is automatically deployed by gravity or unwinding without being held expanded for greater visibility.
There is a need for a hand held flag which is easily stored and easily deployed for use in emergency signalling as well as safety identification.